To be so intrigued by America?

[hollyblueivy]

AIBU to be so intrigued by America and just how vastly different it is to the UK despite both being rich modern nations?

Trump features a lot in the UK news and it has made me look into why the US seem so uncaring. Their systems to help the vulnerable are so different to ours. They have no right to housing so many can easily risk facing homelessness. With no national health service, access to healthcare is much more difficult and expensive, pushing people into deprivation even if they are working.

They don’t seem to have the same socialist heart as the UK and it gives a very much dog eat dog and every man for themselves culture.

I don’t think I fully appreciated this before. Anyone else?

Haven’t seen the video, but I’m willing to bet that several of them referred her to a food bank.

I lived in the US for a few years on two separate occasions and I loved it. Yes, it’s very different but each of the States is like its own complete little country. When I visit, I always struck by the huge amount of racial diversity too. It used to be called the melting pot of the world, where anyone (if they worked hard) could achieve the American dream. I think a lot of that is still true today.

I’m an American living in the US. You don’t understand a lot of what happens here, as is clear from your posts. But that’s ok. You don’t live here, and never will, so you don’t need to. I could try and break it all down for you an explain how things like Section 8 and Medicaid work, just to start with. But I just think this is yet another anti-American post here and you don’t actually want to understand anything.

I don’t think I fully appreciated this before. Anyone else?

I'm curious as to how you didn't know about this before now.

Everyone knows the u s has virtually no paid annual leave.No maternity rights and very little employment rights

How on earth didn't you know this..

Also - if she called them on the phone, they don’t have any evidence that she even has a baby. People steal baby formula to sell it for money and scammers like to prey on people’s sense of charity.

51% of the population is considered middle class.

https://www.pewresearch.org/race-and-ethnicity/2024/05/31/the-state-of-the-american-middle-class/

Strange that this woman didn't contact a food bank first, isn't it? 50 churches? Almost sounds made up.

I knew bits and pieces of the difference in cultures. The main things like guns being allowed, no NHS etc but I didn’t actually know there there is no basic right to housing. I did not fully appreciate just how different our cultures are and that some of the policies in the US are extreme compared to ours.

Hear, hear. Mumsnet loves a good America bashing thread, based on social media or biased media (looking at you, BBC). I put it down to lost empire syndrome.

I would like to understand more but it’s ok. I have followed Bernie Sanders and see that he seems to try to look out for the less wealthy. He was concerned about possible changes to Medicare that would stop access for many people. I’m sure there are many more like him. The New York mayor, Mamdani also seems like a person intent on looking out for people at the lower end of the wealth spectrum. I guess from the UK, we mostly have Trump thrown at us and his views are very polarised.

Are people in the US sicker than in the UK? I don’t know, I’m not being pejorative.

I don’t think using individual cases is helpful. I have several stories of how the NHS has failed people, including my own mum, but it doesn’t mean I don’t think the NHS is generally great, I do. US healthcare is not as scary as everyone makes it out to be. Sure, it isn’t a system I would pick but as an insured person, I have access to amazing healthcare. Overall, I prefer an NHS but that’s because I’m an old pinko.

Speaking as one of the many Americans who is not poor, and certainly not wealthy, thank you for this post.

A quick search tells me this.

Yes — on average, people in the U.S. are in worse health than people in the UK (especially in mid‑life, and in terms of life expectancy and preventable diseases).
But: You shouldn’t interpret that as “every American is sicker” or “the UK has no health problems”. It’s a trend at the population level, and there are many nuances.

@PermanentTemporarywhich states have better abortion laws than in the UK? What is that difference?

Hardy any annual leave when you start at a new job but it soon accumulates. My DH, working in the private sector, gets 5 weeks a year plus 7 public holidays.

Maternity and paternity leave is common now but yes, there are some strides needed on this.

UK is an almost bankrupt nation, not rich

I think several states have better laws on abortion access than Northern Ireland.

The UK is far from poor in the global sense.

Abortion pills can be prescribed online and sent by post and if necessary, you can refer yourself directly to a clinic that performs abortions. The whole process is quicker than in the UK (if you want it to be).

I live in the UK now but was brought up in the US and my sisters still live there.
There’s a lot of things that are great about America. Their customer service, the convenience of shops being open til 10pm (or later), their generosity, their friendliness, their ‘can do’ attitude.
What I don’t like is their insularity, violence, lack of work/life balance. And current political climate of course.
But I couldn’t live there now. At least I couldn’t afford to. My DD has Multiple Sclerosis and I have type 1 diabetes. Our health insurance would be sky high and I’m not a low enough earner to qualify for any sort of benefits. My sister’s DD has profound autism and several health issues. She gets good health care by paying about $25k in health insurance annually. Even so, she has several thousand dollars in co payments annually. I don’t believe her daughter would have the same access to the specific doctors if she was on Medicare. My sister doesn’t work but has assets that are over the limit for Medicare.
Here I also don’t work and live off investments. But I don’t pay anything above my taxes that we all pay. I pay nothing for my insulin, or my DD’s very expensive drugs to treat her MS (diagnosed as a minor).
But take that (essential) aspect away and I’d have no problem living there. I do think the education structure is better than ours, non exam based and broader up til 18.
There are many assumptions both ways. You need to live in a country to understand it, and even then it depends on what part of the country you live in. Boston is very different to New Orleans, as Portsmouth is very different to Durham. And in both the rural experience is totally different again. Plus the vastness of the US cannot be discounted.

😂 I was waiting for someone to mention the
social experiment and also for someone to jump and defend the terrible response from the churches.

I'm British but moved to the US age 32. Been here 18.5 years.

What the news doesn't tell you is that many states have great welfare programmes and benefits. The point is that these benefits - such as paid maternity leave - are not federally mandated. But each state is free to create its own, and it does. In my state, you get 80% of your salary for three months, up to a maximum of $1,170 a week. That's for maternity, time off to care for a relative or time off to recover from your own illness.

Additionally, many companies offer great benefits too. It's a way that they compete to get staff.

People who are dirt-poor have it bad in America, but the majority of states do have welfare. Also, only about ten percent of children live in poverty in the IS compared to over 30 percent in the UK.

Don't believe everything you hear in the news about America!

How would someone even answer that? You can’t know what you don’t know - until you know 😆

It’s polite to answer questions without making people feel stupid. Stephen Fry is excellent at this.

My kids are seven and eleven. I could call a church right now - “Could you give me a tub of baby formula? We just used up our money on the rent and we won’t have any more until we get paid next week. I don’t know who else to ask. I feel really bad for asking for a handout like this, but I don’t know what else to do. She hasn’t eaten in six hours and I’m so worried.”

You think they should give it to me?

This is so not true. See my post above. These things are provided by each state individually. They are not federally mandated, which is what the sensation-seeking media focuses on. So they're technically correct when they say that America doesn't have, say, paid maternity leave of X amount that each state must give. So they say there is no paid maternity leave, which conveniently leaves out all the states and ALL the employers who do offer it.

My friend got $1,150 a WEEK maternity pay for three months from the state.

But that's not such a great America-bashing story for the European media, is it?